"Aurora"

Yet another senseless mass murder occurs in the U.S.  The young man that killed 12 (so far) in Colorado (James Holmes) turned out to be the “loner”, the “reclusive”, the “seemed like a nice guy to me”.  I’ve heard this before; it’s déjà vu all over again. How many men in America fit a profile similar to this, thousands upon thousands? Yet, 99.999% do not plan murder for months, booby-trap apartments, wear head to toe Kevlar and go kill people. What made the most sense to me was what this killer said when he was arrested. He said he was doing what the Joker would do or words to that effect. What he meant became instantly clear to me and to anyone that saw the Batman movie where Heath Ledger played the character of the deranged Joker. If you saw that particular movie you know what this killer was up to.

In that movie, Ledger’s critically acclaimed performance as the evil Joker was based on this premise:  random murder, mayhem, booby-trapped people, explosives, and robbery was not so much about getting money as it was to disrupt people’s lives. To create such chaos that people would never see the world the same way. They would be forced to change themselves and society. In simpler words he was doing it to show a) it could be done b) that you can’t control or even understand the perpetrator c) you cannot stop someone that wants to do this and d) it simply makes “crazy” a new fact of life.

Joker delights in terror, he delights in mayhem, he delights in catching people off-guard, he delights in out smarting the cops and he defies authorities to stop him. Batman does finally stop him (we are left to think only temporarily) but not before he stabs, shoots, explodes, booby-traps, robs and terrorizes people. Joker says society needs people like him to pull them out of their catatonic state and be forced to ‘deal” with things, rethink things and find out who they really are.

Consider James Holmes now. He arms himself (6,000 rounds) catches people off-guard, attacks people feeling safe (what could feel safer that a midnight movie in Aurora, Colorado?) he bursts in, throws gas canisters to create mayhem, he randomly kills and wounds people, he booby-traps his apartment in hopes of creating yet another spectacular event with death and madness. There was no way of knowing ahead of time, no way to predict, no way of stopping him beforehand (barring some miracle where a security officer intercepts him, which is why he chose a midnight movie). He becomes Heath Ledger’s Joker in real life. Don’t forget he did not try to wound anyone; he was trying to kill every person that ended up wounded.

Will he be institutionalized because he is clearly insane (thinking he is Joker) OR will it be proven that his systematic and calculated plan to do a “Joker-like” crime was more evil and a play for fame than insane. Acting like you are crazy doesn’t make you crazy, it may mean you are a disaffected genius looking to prove you are smarter than everyone else. What is the old saying, “crazy like a fox”? I have no idea what it will be in his case. It used to be that people just jumped off bridges and did themselves in. But now they see that taking them out only gets them a small article on the back page of the newspaper; taking out lots of other people gets them the front page.  I am sorry to say it but “crazy” has become a fact of life.

To say I am sad for all those affected, not only in Colorado but his San Diego connections (parents & friends) is as big an understatement as I have ever said.